‘The Office’: The Clever Way They Pulled Off Jan’s Boob Job so it Looked Real
During season 3 of The Office, Jan Levinson returned to win Michael Scott back after their breakup — and she looked a bit different. Jan got a boob job, something that played a huge part in Michael reconciling with his ex. How did they make Jan actually look like she had breast augmentation surgery?
What episode does Jan get breast implants?
For The Office Season 3 finale, Jan makes a real impression on Michael. “The Job” features Jan with breast implants for the first time.
In the episode, Michael (Steve Carell) believes he has landed a job at Dunder Mifflin’s corporate office, sells his condo, and chooses Dwight (Rainn Wilson) as his successor. Michael is only being considered for the job, however, as the company is interviewing other candidates as well, including Jim (John Krasinski) and Karen (Rashida Jones).
Jan (Melora Hardin) shows up at the office in Scranton to try to get back together with Michael. He’s confused about what he should do, so he seeks the advice of the women in the office. Though he plans not to reconcile with her, once he sees that Jan had breast augmentation surgery, he is easily swayed into taking her back.
As she begins to present her case for reconciling, he blurts out, “Let’s get back together.” In a talking head interview, Michael explains, “No. No, no, no, no. I’ll tell you this, it is not because of the boob job. Excuse me, boob enhancement. That would be shallow. And this is the opposite of shallow. This is emotionally magnificent.”
Is Jan’s boob job real?
During the Nov. 11 episode of the Office Ladies podcast, hosts Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey discussed the season 3 finale episode titled “The Job.”
In order to sell the idea visually, the show had to make it look like Jan really had a boob job, but without the surgery, of course.
Fischer shared that a fan asked if Hardin really had surgery and she confirmed, “no,” explaining how The Office was able to achieve the illusion that she had a boob job.
“We had some people ask, ‘Did Melora get a breast augmentation for this episode?,’” Fischer shared. “No, she didn’t. They designed this crazy bra for her that was filled with like a gazillion little cutlets and then they did this like makeup shadowing on her chest to create even more illusion of like swollen cleavage and all of that.”
Fischer said after that, Hardin had to wear the super-padded bra for every episode. Kinsey added that in the DVD commentary, Hardin and director Ken Kwapis revealed the extensive discussions they had about Jan’s boob job, including “how big would Jan go and how much of a visual joke would this be.”
Did ‘The Office’ and Jan make a real continuity error?
When Michael tells Pam, “So, I guess we’re getting back together,” she asks, “What happened?”
He responds, “Your advice was good, but Jan’s was bigger.”
Later, Michael is seen cupping Jan’s breasts in a spy shot camera angle. In a talking head, he says, “Two weeks ago, I was in the worst relationship of my life. She treated me poorly. We didn’t connect, I was miserable. Now, I’m in the best relationship of my life with the same woman. Love is a mystery.”
Fischer pondered the timeline Michael mentions in his comment and whether two weeks is enough time for someone to heal after surgery. “Can you get a breast augmentation and heal from it in only two weeks? Is that enough time?,” Fischer asked.
The former co-stars also thought that more than two weeks had passed since Michael and Jan’s breakup. “I think maybe this was a continuity error in writing,” Kinsey noted.
